


All Her Lovely Companions

by weatherflonium



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, Jossed, Rare Pairings, crazytheoryfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 20:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2163894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatherflonium/pseuds/weatherflonium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some crazytheoryfic born out of a discussion on /u/: Weiss’s sister, Ruby’s mom, and our BBEG have related names, so <i>clearly</i> they must have known each other (and some person named Spring). Ripe to be Jossed by the rest of Volume 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Her Lovely Companions

"Welcome to Beacon!

Cinder brushed past the girl, Mercury and Emerald following closely behind. A moment later, she briefly turned her head, glancing at the girl again. There was something about her that bothered Cinder; something almost familiar. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember where she had seen the girl before.

"Cinder, is something-" Emerald started.

"It’s nothing." Why was she so familiar? Her present ruse aside, Cinder hardly made a habit of associating with children. She had been sure to keep a list of everyone at Beacon who could identify her; the girl had definitely not been one of them. She idly waved her followers forward. "We continue as planned."

Cinder pushed the girl out of her mind for the rest of the night. The next day, however, she spotted a similar face on the far side of one of Beacon’s courtyards, having traded her uniform for a red hooded cloak. A large, red weapon of some kind was tucked under her arm, and she was pulling a girl in white across the courtyard behind her. If the first girl had been familiar, seeing them together was practically nostalgic.

That was when the memories hit. A little red-haired girl, no more than a couple of years old, clinging jealously to their leader’s leg. The curious, probing questions of a teammate’s baby sister. She was amazed it took her so long to see it.

An adventurous young woman in a billowing cloak, full of youthful enthusiasm. A white-haired heiress yearning, consciously or no, to get out from under Daddy’s thumb. The personalities were obviously different, just from how they moved: she had to hide a laugh at the thought of Summer being so purely energetic, and Winter had never been so haughty as long as Cinder had known her. Either way, the resemblance was astonishing.

Chuckling quietly to herself, she turned to watch the two girls again. Summer’s daughter was practically dragging Winter’s sister across the courtyard; Cinder couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but it was some argument or another. Winter’s sister seemed to hold her own, until Summer’s daughter put on a- Cinder paused that thought and cleared her throat- a surprisingly effective pout, which seemed to win the white-haired girl over.

If she even needed to be won over. However hard she tried to hide it, Winter’s sister had a look Cinder had seen hundreds of times. She’d even seen it on Winter, back when she followed Summer around like a lost puppy. Even her own dear follower had shades of it, though that was a different matter entirely.

Oh, to see Winter’s father’s face now. The reasons he passed Winter over for inheritance was never made public, but anyone who knew her could guess it was because of Summer. The Schnee patriarch was hardly famed for his tolerant and accepting nature. Long-term goals aside, simply watching Roman and his thugs drag in another piece of that ass’s fortune was always a little satisfying. The thought that his other heir was taken with, of all people, Summer’s daughter was enough to force a chuckle.

It was almost too perfect; if she could see any reason for it, she would have called it deliberate. All they needed now was a quiet, intelligent loner being dragged around by a well-meaning, boisterous buffoon and it would be a perfect picture of the past. She held back another chuckle at the image. How long had it been since she had thought about the others? Then, just for a moment, she allowed herself to think back.

-

Meeting for the first time after teams were assigned, and asking why Summer was so much older than them. Each teammate’s reaction when Summer introduced her daughter.

-

The four of them celebrating the end of their first year in Summer’s tiny flat, trying not to wake the sleeping child in the small bedroom down the hall.

-

Winter, exhausted from studying, falling asleep on Summer’s shoulder as Cinder made snide remarks about their choice of film.

-

Sparring with Summer to practice before the Vytal Festival tournament, and sometimes almost winning. Her partner’s furious, futile attempts to so much as scratch their leader’s cloak.

-

Winter listening a little too intently to Summer’s bedtime story for her daughter, and fervently denying it when Cinder later pressed the point.

-

Celebrating their place in the tournament by painting the town red. Helping Summer drag Cinder’s unconscious partner back to campus, Winter dodging cameras all the way.

-

Summer and Winter telling their small circle of friends that yes, they were dating. Cinder, smirking as she reached for the large stack of bills proffered by her disgruntled partner.

-

Summer’s daughter bombarding Winter with questions, and Winter’s flustered, uncomfortable attempts to answer them all.

-

Finishing their theoretical work at the Academy, and celebrating with the same awful film they had put on after their first year. Contrary to Summer’s assertions, it was no better the second time around.

-

Their first official mission, against a large Nevermore terrorising the Vale countryside, and the satisfaction of their first “real” victory.

-

Being stuck on babysitting duty when Summer and Winter were on a mission, only for a certain little girl to steal Cinder’s lipstick and scribble on everything in reach.

-

A stilted, awkward dinner at the Schnee estate where Summer said too little and Winter’s father said too much.

-

Spending hours wondering how to keep in contact after graduation, with Summer pulling her aside to discretely ask if she knew anything about the schools in Atlas.

-

But all stories must end, and end it did: with a bloodstained cloak, a dying leader and her disgraced partner, and the three bitter survivors going their separate ways. Maybe the retelling would change the ending. Maybe it wouldn’t.

It didn’t matter. There was so little time to reminisce, and children at play were hardly her prime concern. This world had pulled her life apart around her, and she intended to return the favour.

**Author's Note:**

> As for how this works out timeline-wise:
> 
>   * Summer had Ruby very young, and waited a bit before entering full Huntress training to guarantee that Ruby was old enough to be left alone. Summer is twenty when she enrolls. 
>   * Ruby is about two when she first meets Summer’s team, which naturally puts Weiss and the rest as about four at the time. Winter, thus, is thirteen years older than Weiss. 
>   * Summer’s death happened six or seven years later, when Ruby was eight or nine (old enough to have memories of her mother, young enough to still be mostly raised by Qrow). 
> 

> 
> The title is a reference to _The Last Rose of Summer_ , the same poem that gave us Summer’s name and the inscription on her grave. Aren’t I pretentious?
> 
> I originally never planned to have Emerald or Mercury show up, but the sheer force of Emerald’s notice-me-sempai worked them in anyway. (“Blazing Saddles” for Emerald/Cinder is one of those pairing names that I should not find as funny as I do)
> 
> I would have liked to put more of those memory snippets in there; as it is, it feels sparse to me. I might post a reworked version in a few weeks, once I have the time.


End file.
